EXTRA CASH SOUGHT FOR ARTS PROGRAMS.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

BURBANK - Hoping to restore arts education to all students, the Burbank Unified School District is creating a plan that would allow it to obtain matching funds from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, officials said Thursday.

A team of 20 district officials and community members is drafting a plan to obtain funding to provide lessons in music, dance, visual arts and theater at all of its 17 campuses. The goal is to have the program in place for the 2005-06 school year, with money provided by the district, local donors and the arts commission's Arts for All program.

``If we really want arts education for everyone, it's got to be integrated during the school day,'' said Laura Zucker, executive director of the arts commission, which has received about $600,000 in donations from Hollywood studios for the countywide program.

Warner Bros. donated $50,000 to the grant program, and asked that the money be set aside for Burbank schools, said Lisa Rawlins, the senior vice president of Warner's studio and production affairs.

Burbank Unified currently has about two dozen arts teachers who teach specialized courses in middle and high schools. At the elementary-school level, general-education teachers lead students through arts exercises.

Various arts also are taught at about one-third of the elementary schools in extracurricular programs.

Burbank Unified Superintendent Greg Bowman said the district hasn't yet set a budget for the program.

``What we have to do is have some other way of funding this that will be sustainable and consistent over time,'' Bowman said.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com